Friday 3/22/13 Josh and Miles
Soup kitchen Christ’s Hands
Our group headed over to Christ’s Hands in the morning, a
local soup kitchen, to help set up and prepare the day’s meal. Some of us
struggled to find hats that fit, while others donned hairnets. Erin’s sunhat
and Colleen’s “Touched by the Master” hat were big hits. Our group split up into stockers, food prep,
and cleaners for the night’s dinner.
Miles and Kendra swept the floors, Stephen, Carly, and Josh started the
day loading up Kevin’s truck with clothes for good will and stocking inventory.
Kevin was one of the co-founders of the soup kitchen, as well as a federal
coalmine inspector, and a hell of a nice guy.
After Miles finished cleaning, Kevin recruited him, Josh, and Stephen to
drop off the clothes and pick up a TV donation. During the car ride, Kevin gave
the trio a brief history of Harlan. He discussed the background of the major
and miner landmarks of Harlan, KY and shared some of his own personal stories.
He spent one or two summers floating on a sawed-off car roof on the rivers in
and out of the city. Miles captured some great footage on the flip cam and the
world is a better place for it.
Set up for RAM
Organized
hygiene and extraction stations
SET UP
WATER AND POWER SUPPLY
Wiped and
sterilized tables
Wiped down
autoclaves, multiple times
After our stint at the service of Christ’s Hands, we walked
over to Huddle house for some deep-fired pickle slices, commemorative mugs, and
irreplaceable memories. After we finished our lunch, we loaded up into the
vans, and trucked on over to Harlan County High school, the 78 million dollar,
state of the art, high school and home to the fighting black bears. We
proceeded to help set up for the free medical, dental, and vision clinic
offered that Saturday and Sunday. We began by setting up the chairs and dentist
hygiene and extraction stations. Next, we fitted the water and power supply to
get the stations up and running, followed by setting up, wiping down, and
sterilizing tables. Josh really stepped up by making sure some of the important
technical equipment was properly cleaned. Particularly, the autoclaves which he
cleaned one no less than four times. Finally, we stocked and organized the
materials for the all of the stations on the tables. This task went particularly
smoothly thanks to our large numbers and efficient group dynamic. After leaving
the high school, our service was done for the day, but our night…was only just
beginning.
Our group had our celebratory dinner at El Ranchito, Mexican
restaurant and overall good time. We arrived hungry as clams, and the chips our
waiter brought out barley made a dent. We proceeded to feast on the delicious
yet affordable Mexican cuisine. For most there was too much food, and Miles was
determined to let not excess go to waste. To top off our celebration, it was
Caf’s birthday, and the lovely, personable, and speedy staff showed us a new
meaning to the word “service”, and gave her a free fried, strawberry ice cream
treat and sang her happy birthday. It was a fantastic way to celebrate our hard
work, the bonds we made with each other, and our appreciation for the trip
leaders and everything they have done for us.
Friday was an excellent sample of our experience on our
alternative break in Harlan, Kentucky. Listening to Kevin’s stories gave us a
better understanding of the culture we have been learning more about all week.
We encountered even more people who were friendly, and seemed genuinely happy.
This was possibly the biggest contradiction to our expectations we have experience
thus far, and it is proved time and time again. Our group also felt very
satisfied with our work setting up for RAM, and we felt prepared and excited to
volunteer full time at the clinic tomorrow.
El Ranchito
Too much
food
Miles not
enough food
Caf
birthday sung to her
Mariann
jammed out guitar
Great
service, hard to keep the glass empty
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